Outdoor enthusiasts want to see a mountain bike hub back on the cards at the former Belair golf course four years after a proposed master plan for the site was abandoned. The 51-hectare site adjacent to the Belair National Park closed as an 18-hole golf course in 2018 and is now used for disc golf and by joggers, mountain bikers and bushwalkers. A master plan for the site was turfed out by former environment minister David Speirs in 2021 after a proposal for soccer fields over 10 hectares was largely rejected by the community during consultation. Mr Speirs subsequently ruled out large-scale sporting facilities but said mountain biking facilities were a possibility, including a flow and jumps track that had been broadly supported. Adelaide Mountain Bike Club president James Irving said a basic trail had since been built to connect existing fire tracks around the outside of the course, known as the Birdie Loop, along with a pump track. "The pump track is good, but we want some localised skills features, or some trails that provide developmental opportunities," he said. "A-B-C lines, for example, so you can basically roll down a trail, or you can take a drop or a jump or a more advanced line, as you get better." Mr Irving said there was room for trails that offered technical climbs. "Some of that can be built into the trails that are already there, but at the moment there is just that one loop," he said. 'Went out of favour' The City of Mitcham and Adelaide Hills councils, along with Adelaide Hills Tourism, had previously backed the site for mountain bike tourism — an industry that had proven immensely successful for towns such as Melrose in the Flinders Ranges as well as nationally. Belair National Park itself offers a number of trails and is centrally located between the Eagle Mountain Bike Park and nearby Mitcham Hills trails. Ian Fehler runs Escape Goat Shed Bike Hire and Cafe at the bottom of the golf course's former fairway. He said the Belair National Park Management Plan had authorised mountain bike trails at the site under the former Liberal government, and he had received a nature-based tourism grant to "build a skills park here to along with the new trails that were pencilled in and earmarked". "I guess it went out of favour … there was no interest really once the Labor government came in [during 2022]," Mr Fehler said. He used his tourism grant to build the pump track with Lighthouse Youth Projects on the site of the former Country Club. "But it's very frustrating, as I sound like a broken record a lot of the time when people come through here and ask what's going on," Mr Fehler said. SA Environment Minister Susan Close did not respond to questions about whether a mountain bike hub would be considered for the site but said the sport had been a "popular activity in Belair National Park for a number of years". "There are several shared trails that can be utilised by mountain bikers of all ages and experience levels," she said. Disc golf flying Ms Close said a "permanent", free-to-play 18-tee disc golf course was opened during September last year on the fairways and greens in collaboration with the SA Disc Golf Association. She said it included 27 baskets offering a range of options for varying loop lengths, abilities and ages. "Disc golf is a fast-growing sport that is low-cost, has minimal environmental impact and is accessible to all ages and abilities and promotes mental and physical wellbeing," Ms Close said. Chris is a regular disc golfer on the course and said runners, dog walkers, and the occasional orienteering group could be seen in the area. He said he would like to see the site better used with more activities, including mountain biking. "It would be nice to see some more stuff in there," Chris said. "But I don't know what else they would put in here as they're not going to water it all the time." Queenslanders Greg and Cathy Hay were staying in the adjacent Belair National Park Holiday Park and said they had seen a NSW town damaged by flooding turn to mountain bike tourism in an effort to rebuild and it "just went boom". "It took off," Greg said. "Tamworth is another example — they put mountain bike courses in there and people are coming from all over the place.